Isha nodded. I would like to go back very much so, sir...but...what answers do you have in mind...?"
----------------------------------------
Holly's hands were balled into fists, but she kept them at her sides. She bit her bottom lip to refrain from reaching out and shaking the man. Instead, she lowered her head and shook it slowly.

"I don't exactly know what 'my kind' is, but I'm sorry to have troubled you." She says softly as she turns to walk away.

"What I have to tell you is a long treacherous tale. You see, long ago - it must have been fifty or sixty years ago by your standards - I was chosen to assist a bright young scientist in creating an alternate energy source. He was being funded by the American and British government, and the Prime Minister wanted one of his men working on it.

"The boy's idea showed promise, so I decided to to take part in this historically changing project. We worked for several years with few advancements. But one night my partner made... some mistake in the process, and created a strange crystal.

"Upon further testing the crystals were shown to, while still acting as an energy source, give the possessor special abilities. We knew that we couldn't tell anyone about these, so we continued to give the same reports of failure.

"We created a second crystal, and proceeded to test them, figuring out what we had created. Our crystals seemed to be complete opposites. While his took thoughts and brought them into reality, mine would take reality and turn it into thoughts.

"But somehow our superiors found out what we had done. They came in and shut us down, confiscating our crystals. We were brought before them, where they chose to destroy the shards. This was impossible, of course, due to their molecular structure. So, they put the crystals into a pod and launched them into space.

"Well, it turned out that the crystals were... 'alive'. Not sentient, mind you, but they grew. While they floated through space, they multiplied, until they broke free from their metallic casing, and came plummeting back to earth.

"Our crystals, our... shards, came back to us. I decided to flee with my knowledge and I built this castle, free from space and time."

He turned back to the computer and brought up the world map again.

"I have tried to follow Josiah, but due to our shards similarities in code, it made it nearly impossible to track him."

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

Isha closed her eyes. Her mind was overloaded with information but she absorbed every word of it. "So this Josiah...he can basically bring whatever he thinks of to reality...to...make it real?" Her stomach churned. The thought of someone being able to do that sickened her.

"And what code are you talking about? Also...I've heard of a different type of shard...though I don't know if I believe they exist...Phantom shards...what are they?"

"That is essentially it. Even we aren't sure how the shards work. We know it has something to do with this code inside them."

He brought up the symbols on the screen, which Isha now recognized as the writing inside of the etched shards.

"These etchings are what define a shard. It is like their DNA. Every shards code is completely unique, but every shard has a part of code that is identical to part of the code of ours, which allows me to easily monitor every shard in existence. For example,"

He brought up a different code.

"This is the code for Edgar's own shard. If you look here,"

A section of the code glowed.

"This code is identical to a portion of my shard.

"As for the phantom shards, they are most definitely real. When the shards impacted with earth, they released dust particles of them into the atmosphere. Under optimal conditions, usually caused by an irregular pulse of energy, the particles merge together, forming what you call phantom shards."

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

"So, these...phantom shards...are they of any use to us?" Isha inquired.
------------------------------------

(OOC: Okay, is someone really controling Derick and stuff? I won't mind doing it, I just dun wanna ruin any plans someone else may have...but if so, then please, do something now? ^^;;

Holly continued on deeper through the town. She couldn't help but marvle at the way these people lived here. It was like they were their own humungous family. They all seemed to work with each other without expecting anything in return. She was beginning to understand why she wasn't welcome there. While she knew she wouldn't hurt anyone, they didn't. So, whenever parents pulled their children away, or people shot her angry glances, she simply smiled and on occasion bowed politely.

Holly continued through the town, avoiding the hostile people as much as possible. She bought the items she needed, without interacting with the vendors or shopkeepers.

She began to march back up the hill towards Seifer's house, slightly depressed that she had not found Derrick.

Alden was in a warehouse somewhere. He had been wandering around in it for some time, since he was dumped there from Josiah's portal, and had yet to see anyone. For all he knew, Josiah had managed to take him somewhere else. But he doubted that.

He heard a strange sound on the other side of a wall of boxes. He quietly drew his pistol and flipped off the safety. He spun around the corner and squeezes off a shot. The sound reverberates around the empty warehouse.

As he turned back the direction he had come from, his gun flew from his hand. Josiah held the pistol in his hand and squeezed, crushing it into a small ball of metal. Alden ignited his beam sword and charged toward Josiah.

Josiah held up his hand and a narrow green beam flew towards Alden. The commander continued on, expecting his armor to absorb the blast, but when it hit, he slid to the floor. He clasped his ears, trying to mask the ringing that was sending pain throughout his body, even through his bones. He looked up to see Josiah, the beam still coming from his hand, approaching him, just before he blacked out.

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

Holly slowly pushed the screen door open and entered the house, with her head facing the floor. The door slammed shut behind her. She had been gone for a while and had not been able to find anyone she was supposed to. She sighed as she made her way through to the kitchen, passing by random tools and cleaning supplies along the way. She said not a word to anyone, but simply set the bags down on the counter in the kitchen and began unpacking the bags.

As Holly walked through the house, she noticed that it was considerably cleaner, although the lights still weren't on. Just as the thought entered her head, the lights came on, dimly, and began to flicker. There was the sound of a slight explosion from down stairs, and the lights came on at full power.

Eric came up from the basement with Seifer in tow. There was a slight stream of smoke coming off of his shaven head. He clapped his hands together.

"Well, now that the power's back on, I think it's chow time."

He sniffed the air.

"Is someone already cooking?"

The sun had set during the last hour. The group was huddled around Seifer's coffee table., eating dinner. Some, like Eric, were hunched over the table, while others, like Jeremy, held their plates on their lap. Everyone was eating Seifer's 'specialty', steak and potatoes, except Eric, who was eating a helping of rice and beans. He did, however, take a few potatoes.

He began to speak, but his words were muffled by the large bite of food in his mouth.

"Eric..." Jeremy said. Eric rolled his eyes and finished chewing. The moment after he swallowed he began again.

"If we plan on defeating Josiah, we need to come up with a plan of action."

In the dark outside of the cabin a large group of people were gathered. One of them motioned with his hands, and the group segregated, surrounding the residence.

Alden woke up in a small room, must have been 10 square feet. The walls were made out of seamless, reflective metal. He approached the wall, and began examining it. He jumped back as he heard a strange sound coming from the other side.

A moment later, the metal in front of him bend open, and Josiah stepped inside.

"Hello, Donald."

"Josiah, I knew you were involved in this."

Josiah opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off as Alden charged towards him. He deftly stepped through the opening, and it sealed shut. Alden impacted with it and fell backwards. He held up his hand. The shard on his palm began to glow, then fired a laser towards the wall. It ricocheted of the walls for nearly a minute, nearly hitting Alden, who had ducked out of the way, several times. He heard Josiah's voice reverberate inside the metal container.

"You like it? The metal is specially designed to reflect your blasts, no matter how powerful. And of course, we have the mandatory three feet of concrete."

"Josiah!" Alden called out. "JOSIAH!" But there was no response.

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

Holly sat at the table, barely touching her plate. She hadn't said a word since she had returned from her failed mission.

"What can we do?" She asks quietly, finally speaking up. Her head was facing the floor most of the afternoon, but she let it rise as she asked her question. As she looked up, she saw something flicker out of the corner of her eye.

If she received an answer, Holly was no longer paying attention to the crew in Seifer's living room. Instead, her eyes were now focused on one of the windows. Slowly, she rose to her feet, set the plate down on the table and walked over to the window to peer outside.

Brad continued thinking, while eating a bite of potatoe. "If we knew exactly how he enhanced his shards," Brad suggested. "We might be able to find another way of enhancing them, without the side affects. From what I know, Josiah is mostly muscle, with little brains. There are still some nuclear bombs remaining at certain E'shyum depots, if we stole some of them, would Josiah survive a direct blast?"

"We already have figured out an alternate form of enhancement," Jeremy pointed out, "Naturally it's nowhere near as powerful as Josiah's technique. But I don't think that makes much of a difference. Investigation has shown that he was equally as powerful when he left us as when he joined. As for--"

"Blowing him up..." Eric mused, "could do the trick. But there is no way we could get one near him, and get out alive. After all, if we can get away, chances are so can he. Most likely he'd turn it against us."

He made gestures of his thoughts with his fork, fortunately not flinging any of the potato on it anywhere.

"No, if we want to defeat him, we need to figure out why he wanted her." He aimed his fork at Holly with this last statement.

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

Holly took one last glance out the window before turning back to the conversation. I could have sworn something moved... she thought to herself as she reluctantly turned around. She didn't move from her place, she wanted to keep look out by the window for a little longer...something wasn't sitting right with her.

"Listen here." She says, placing her hands on her hips. "We already know. It wasn't me. He wants the shard and I just happen to be in posession of it." She adds with a shrug.

"He's arrogant. We need to play on that somehow. He could have very easily killed me yesterday and got the shard that way...or he could have snatched it from me just before he fought Henry. But he didn't. Why? Because he thinks he is going to win...no, in his mind, he knows that he is going to win." She added the extra emphasis on the word "knows" as she surveyed the men sitting around the table. "That's his weakness. We just need to make sure he keeps that mindset, no matter what kind of plan we have. He toys with us. That's about all he has done up until this point." She made a slight grimace, feeling stupid for actually trusting and defending him before turning back to face the window.

"He has a good reason to be so arrogant. The power he wields is immense."

"Wait a second..."

Eric stood and approached the hallway leading towards the stairs. He had heard a strange sound. A beeping. Did Seifer have an alarm clock or something? Just then, he realized what it was. He turned around,

"JEREMY!"

Just then, the bomb that had been planted on the back door detonated, sending Eric, followed by a pillar of fire flying down the hallway, back towards the rest of the group. Jeremy leaped up and drew his weapon as he approached the hallway. He spun into the opening just in time to meet a bolt of lighting that collided with his chest. Ten militia men stormed into the room, weapons aimed at the group. One of the guns had smoke coming from the barrel.

"Alright, nobody move." Commanded the man that appeared to be the leader, "We aren't afraid to use lethal force, and we've got twenty more men outside."

(Last edited by FX on 02-26-07 05:02 AM)

KatanaDark Wizard\"She said tonight...come on come on collide...see what I fire feels like..I bet its just like heaven.\"

Holly screamed when she heard the explosion and then immediately covered her mouth with her hands. The moment Eric was launched back into the living room from the explosion, she ran over and dropped to her knees at his side. She was going to check how hurt he was when Jeremy too was shot.

She gasped and her hands flew to her mouth once again. Her shard wasn't activating itself. Maybe they really won't hurt us? she thought to herself as her thoughts went back to earlier that day. The people were so hostile...but it was because they were so scared...like we would hurt them...

Holly took a deep breath and held it for a moment. With her shard not activating, she decided to take the leap of faith.

"Sir..." She says softly, looking up at the man, but not moving from her spot. "We aren't going to hurt anyone..."

"No, we aren't." Brad stepped forward, shard in hand. He concentrated on them, and created kinetic energy around them, lifting their arms high above their heads. He couldn't do it to all thirty, but hopefully the first ten wouldn't be a problem. Assuming he captures them, he would move them in front of the door, and the others around Jeremy, creating effective shields, protecting Jeremy, Holly, and the entrance to the room.

"Now that we're on my terms," Brad said. "How about we figure out what's happening here, and why I shouldn't just heat up your nervous system, putting you in all kinds of agonizing pain before you die."

Brad didn't even bother to draw his gun, he didn't need it to scare these men.

Ϡ
This isn't about you and your loud mouth,This is about me and my fucking beard.